Family divided over Tyne-Wear derby
Kirsty Cummings and her daughter support Sunderland but husband Steven and son are Newcastle fans.
Steven Cummings and son Isaac, four, support Newcastle but wife Kirsty and daughter Olivia, 11, are Sunderland fans [Kirsty Cummings] It is one of the fiercest rivalries in football, and on Sunday millions of people will watch the Tyne/Wear derby with an intensity reserved only for that fixture. So what do you do if the person you fall in love with supports the opposing side? Kirsty Cummings, 40, from Fishburn in County Durham, cannot remember a time when she did not support Sunderland.
"My dad was a big fan, he took me under his wing and he just got me hooked for life," she says. A Sunderland season ticket holder, she met husband Steven before realising he supported her team's greatest foe - Newcastle United. Kirsty Cummings's dad died in 2022 and she says she and her siblings carry him with them into every game [Kirsty Cummings] "We met the week before Valentine's Day and he took me out and I remember saying, 'I can't drink too much, I'm off to the game tomorrow', and it was then we realised.
"In truth, it didn't really bother me, he is who he is," she laughs. Kirsty says the previous fixture between the two teams on 14 December, when Sunderland won 1-0 at the Stadium of Light, was "absolutely amazing". "To be honest I'd have been happy with a draw, sometimes I still pinch myself that we won.
" In the Cummings' household, the women support Sunderland and the men Newcastle [Kirsty Cummings] Husband Steven, 37, says: "In our house the boys are the Geordies, the girls are the Mackems. " He is confident Newcastle will take the honours at St James' Park. "All week I've had my wife blasting out all the Sunderland tunes, and trying to get a reaction from us, but I'm quietly confident we can win.